This is the most impressive temple ever. Even though I’ve seen Angkor Wat near Siem Reap or Bangkok’s Grand Palace, this well-hidden temple in the North-East of Thailand is surely the most original. A temple completely made out of glass bottles! (pics below).

Hidden between Si Saket and the Cambodian border

I came across it by accident on a travel page about Isaan, the North East of Thailand. It’s just a couple of dozens km North of the Cambodian border crossing. Since I was heading to Cambodia, I thought a little stop on the way to pray at the glass-bottle-temple would be a good sightseeing treat. I’ve got no clue if the temples is dedicated to the fight against alcoholism or whether it is sponsored by the local soft-drink company… A truly mysterious but awe-inspiring place.

I just read online that it started as a recycling project, and when the monks got so many bottles they decided to build a new temple with them! Green monks, I say!

The Wat Lan Khuad temple in Khun Han (not to be mistaken by Kun Khan, where I almost ended up, cueing up for the wrong bus) is a little bit hard to find, but just mind-blowing for the sheer originality and perseverance of the thing. The whole temple complex is made up of bottles: from the fences to the central temple, from the chedi to the water reservoir. The Buddha images on the wall are made of bottle caps and a few of the Buddhist graves go along in the bottle-mania, being built out of bottle caps. Even the crematorium and the toilets are made of bottles! (see pics)